Marine & Coastal Areas under Protection: Kenya

Abstract

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is renowned for the richness of its marine biodiversity, especially that associated with the region’s widespread coral reef systems. The mangroves, seagrasses, rocky and sandy shorelines with associated dune systems and coastal forests, and the deep-sea features such as seamounts, ridges and abyssal plains also contribute substantially to the biodiversity of the region. The innumerable islets and atolls scattered across the WIO also support extraordinary biodiversity, including vast numbers of often rare, endemic and endangered marine species This rich marine biodiversity supports burgeoning coastal populations both directly, through the provision of a variety of marine resources and vital ecosystem services such as coastal protection, and indirectly, through the opportunities it provides for economic growth through sectors such as fisheries, tourism, infrastructure development and others. However, the marine resources are coming under increasing pressure in the coastal areas through the escalating needs of the local populations, exacerbated by the use of illegal fishing techniques, such as “blast” or dynamite fishing and the use of poisons, and in deeper waters from the legal and illegal harvesting of vast quantities of resources by international commercial fishing fleets. The tourism sector that brings benefits to coastal communities is in many places damaging the very resources the tourists wish to enjoy. In addition, interest in mineral resources including oil and gas reserves, found under the seabed, is exacerbating pressure on coastal ecosystems. Developing coastal nations in the WIO region, particularly those faced with financial constraints, are keen to exploit mineral resources for the benefit of their populations, leading to an exponential increase in the issuing of prospecting and extraction rights. To these pressures are added increased levels of land and sea-based pollution, sedimentation from silt-laden rivers, and extensive coastal development; together with the increasingly evident impacts of climate change including sea-level rise, ocean warming and acidification, and increased frequency and intensity of storm events. If the twin threat from coastal development and climate related pressure, is left unmitigated, with no protection afforded to the marine and coastal systems, there is every likelihood that the marine biodiversity of the WIO region would be irreversibly compromised. The consequential impacts on the livelihoods of coastal communities, and the well-being of the populations across the region, are likely to have long-term and negative ramifications on the national economies of the coastal states Aware of the global threat from both human-caused and climate change-related stressors, the global community in 2015 committed to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). With particular relevance for the marine environment is SDG 14, “Life below Water”. The SDG 14 has several targets including Targets 14.2 on sustainable management and protection of marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration, to achieve healthy and productive oceans by 2020; and 14.5 that aimed at all countries conserving at least 10 percent of coastal and marine areas, essentially their exclusive economic zones (EEZs), consistent with national and international law and based on the best available scientific information by 2020. Target 14.5 was aligned to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 Aichi Target 11, which encouraged all signatory nations to ensure that: “By 2020, at least 17 percent of terrestrial and inland waters, and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascapes.” (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2010). This MPA Outlook reviews the commitment by governments to achieve 10 percent protection of important marine and coastal areas through effectively and equitably managed MPAs and other effective area-based management measures (Aichi Target 11 and SDG 14). The review takes into account the formulation of the CBD’s post 2020 biodiversity framework, that proposes, among other goals a zero net biodiversity loss by 2030, as well as providing a baseline for the post 2020 framework